Feeling–and Causing–Bobby Jindal’s Pain

I don’t know what kind of day you’ve had, but here’s betting Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has had better ones. The reviews keep rolling in on his performance in delivering the Republican response to President Obama’s address to Congress, and they are brutal.

From the left, as you’d expect, there is mockery. Greg Veisis of The New Republic writes that Jindal sounded “in my favorite analogy of the evening, (like) a third grader performing in his Thanksgiving play… Americans are scared enough these days to prefer policy solutions to partisan sniping. But, holy crap, did Jindal blow it.” On the charitable side, Veisis notes that giving the response to a State of the Union speech (and Obama’s was that in all but name) is almost always a losing proposition. “The real crime here is that Jindal, who’s clearly an ambitious guy, could’ve scanned recent history and decided to save himself the pain.”

The bigger part of that pain for the Louisiana governor comes from the hits he’s taking from the right. Erick Erickson of Redstate.com blogged his response Tuesday night, and he reported thusly: “He is talking too fast…I think he is relating well, but the format isn’t right and the sound isn’t good. Jindal raised good points. He made the case for small government. The delivery and microphone distracted from him, as did the hurried pace. Reading the speech, it was great. Delivery? Not so much.”